Vodafone has revealed the performance of the telecom group in terms of investment in digital and network during fiscal 2020-21.
Vodafone said its capital expenditure touched €7.854 billion in fiscal 2021 vs €7.411 billion in fiscal 2020. Vodafone said it increased investment in network performance.
Digital
Vodafone’s investments in digital area have resulted in artificial intelligence-enabled assistant (TOBi) resolving 63 percent of customer support interactions with no human interaction and an approximate 5 percent reduction in the frequency of customer contacts per year to 1.4.
“We expect the majority of new customers will join Vodafone via digital channels and the majority of customer interaction and queries will be fulfilled through either the MyVodafone app or support provided through TOBi,” Vodafone CEO Nick Read said.
Vodafone aims to support the customer relationship through data-driven and automated targeting of upselling, cross-selling and contract extension. This Digital First customer experience will improve customer loyalty and reduce the service cost per customer.
Vodafone said the connectivity value chain involves a high degree of repeatable processes across all of our markets, such as procurement, network deployment, network operations, sales activities, customer support operations, and billing and transaction processing.
This has provided Vodafone with a significant opportunity to standardise processes across markets, relocate operations to lower cost centres of excellence and apply automation at scale, delivering best in class efficiency levels.
Vodafone, as part of the next phase of strategy, will be adopting two changes in its operating model. Firstly, Vodafone will be integrating network and digital teams in Europe. Secondly, Vodafone will be streamlining approach to product development and customer care within European commercial teams.
These programs will be key components in delivering the next phase of ongoing efficiency program, which targets a total net reduction of Europe and Common Function operating expenses of 20 percent by FY23 (versus a FY18 baseline).
Vodafone will be integrating European network and digital teams to drive effectiveness, increase speed of execution, standardise key processes, and support the codification of what is the best solution for Group implementation.
Vodafone will increase IT and digital capabilities, standardise development environments and enhance coding collaboration, while internalising software engineering capabilities, further leveraging its VOIS shared services environment. This new operating model for technology teams will enable journey to redefine our technology architecture following a ‘Telco as a Service’ (TaaS) model.
Vodafone’s TaaS model is based on two existing layers of interconnected digital technology. Vodafone has created a standardised suite of customer and user-facing interfaces for an entire omni-channel journey called OnePlatform.
The OnePlatform suite is powered by Digital eXperience Layer (DXL). DXL refers to the abstraction layer in IT architecture which separates customer-facing micro-services requiring frequent and rapid adjustment from back-end systems such as billing and CRM.
Vodafone already moved more than half its core network functions to the cloud in Europe, supporting voice core, data core and service platforms on over 1,300 virtual network functions.
In Europe, Vodafone operates a single digital network architecture across all markets, enabling the design, build, test and deployment of next generation core network functions more securely, 40 percent faster and at 50 percent lower cost. More than half of IP applications are virtualised and running in the cloud.
Network
Vodafone has launched 5G services in 240 cities, in 10 markets in Europe offering speeds in excess of 100 Mbps, compared with 20-35 Mbps from 4G network.
Vodafone’s NGN fixed-line network infrastructure reaches 142 million homes across 12 markets in Europe (including VodafoneZiggo). This marketable base is connected through a mix of owned NGN network (56 million homes, of which 44 million are gigabit-capable), strategic partnerships (24 million homes) and wholesale arrangements (62 million homes).
Revenue
Vodafone said its revenue declined 2.6 percent to €43.8 billion (FY20: €45.0 billion), as the benefit from the acquisition of Liberty Global’s assets in Germany and Central and Eastern Europe was offset by lower revenue from roaming, visitors and handset sales,and the disposal of Vodafone New Zealand.
